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Updated: Jan 30, 2026

Synthesis of Monocyte-targeting Peptide Amphiphile Micelles for Imaging of Atherosclerosis
Published on: November 17, 2017
Peptide Amphiphile Nanostructures for Targeting of Atherosclerotic Plaque and Drug Delivery
Miranda M So1, Neel A Mansukhani1, Erica B Peters2
1Simpson Querrey Institute for BioNanotechnology, Northwestern University, Chicago, IL 60611, USA.
Abstract:
Co-assembled peptide amphiphile nanofibers designed to target atherosclerotic plaque and enhance cholesterol efflux are shown to encapsulate and deliver a liver X receptor agonist to increase efflux from murine macrophages in vitro. Fluorescence microscopy reveals that the nanofibers, which display an apolipoprotein-mimetic peptide, localize at plaque sites in LDL receptor knockout mice with or without the encapsulated molecule, while nanofibers displaying a scrambled, non-targeting peptide sequence do not demonstrate comparable binding. These results show that nanofibers functionalized with apolipoprotein-mimetic peptides may be effective vehicles for intravascular targeted drug delivery to treat atherosclerosis.
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